Viva Challenge: floss daily for good oral health

Second day of the Chinese New Year and I want to issue you a challenge? Okay, this is a relatively easy one and a good one too because you probably had too much to eat anyway. Plus, I need some community spirit to get me doing this more often because I’ve been rather lazy when it comes to my dental routine.

Floss back and forth two to three times
In fact, in a recent dental visit, I was told I need to floss more. Well, I actually do but I don’t move the floss back and forth two to three times between each tooth. For me, it’s just once and that’s all. Apparently, that is insufficient. And why is flossing our teeth daily important?

Remove decay-causing plague buildup
Well, because brushing alone cannot remove decay-causing plaque and food lodged between the teeth. So we need the additional step of flossing to maintain healthy gum, prevent bad odor as well as tooth loss. I also found out that fluoride coated floss is better than standard wax as it can better grip in between the teeth and remove particles.

Sterilization from mouthwashes are temporary
And those who think that you don’t have to floss because you rinse your mouth with mouthwash have to rethink again because the sterilizing effects of mouthwashes are but temporary.

So ready to join me to take on this challenge if you’re not already flossing your teeth? I need inspiration to do this daily and reminders to floss all my teeth, including those molars!

This post has really inspired me to take better care of my teeth. Actually after reading this blog the last couple of days I’ve really been inspired to take more care of my appearance all around! Thanks for the good posting!

I always use these little floss wands. They are so much more conveiant!!
I could never use the string kind, it was hard to hold in my hand and get way back in my teeth, so these things are a great invention and acutally gets me to floss my teeth! Also great as a toothpick. 😛

Thanks for the inspiration! I do have the little floss wands mentioned above but have just been lazy. I think I will make it part of my CNY resolution too.

On a side note, a frequent a mineral makeup forum and they have a “exercise from bribes” tread going on where if you stick to your exercise routine you get to reward yourself (in my case it’s 1 week for / $5). I think I may have to start a bribe system for flossing too >_> to keep me on track.

ah, I’m already doing this one! Not nearly everyday, but almost! I didn’t think it was important too, but then I realized that there are some bits and pieces that get stuck between the teeth so I’m kinda paranoid about it now… especially if I ate things like chicken meat!

Also, something else to suggest. I normally just run my fingernail over the inner teeth to check if I’d really scraped off all food remains because I find that even if I brushed slowly and tried to be thorough, it’s not always complete. Sorry if it sounds a bit gross!

I do that quite often with my fingernails too especially if I can’t find a toothpick in sight. Paranoid that scraps of food showing up when I smile and they cannot be rinse off. I thought I was the only one doing this. 😛